#theseancekid

It's kind of nice, though — the rhythmic and repetitive motions of slicing the tomatoes and onions, the dull thud of the sharp knife against the cutting-board, the spicy-sweet smell of the sauce as it simmers comfortably on the stovetop, and the feeling of the heavy ladle in his hands as he stirs it around in its pot, the careful precision of the whole process, and the way every step demands his full attention, the way every step keeps him firmly grounded in his body and in the moment so he can't get lost in his head, the way he can look at his bloodstained hands that have never done anything but destroy and realize, with something very close to wonder, that he's creating for what might be the first time in his whole life.

Even the vague background noise of Klaus — fluttering around the kitchen like a large and rather overexcited bird, humming and laughing and chattering on about a million and one things Five couldn't possibly hope to keep up with — is calming, in a way, the tension easing out of Five's ever-taut shoulders the longer he listens to his brother's aimless, irrelevant rambling.

"Is this the way the sauce is supposed to look?" he asks, breaking his silence for the first time in nearly an hour — say what you will about Klaus, but at least he knows how to carry a conversation when the other person doesn't have much to contribute — and taking a step away from the stove so his brother can come and take a look. Klaus is the self-proclaimed huevos rancheros expert after all, not him. "It seems kind of chunky."

@theseancekid said: "why do you have to be such a megabitch?"

"Well, I'd prefer the term pragmatic," the Handler arches one of her perfectly manicured brows at the most annoying Hargreeves sibling she's ever personally encountered, but a smile plays at the edges of her mouth all the same. She never would have made it this far in the Commission if she hadn't learned how to hold her head high and wear the word bitch like a crown on her head, and now it's become more a mark of pride than shame: If they think she's heartless, then she's clearly doing her job right.

They can say whatever they like about her, anyway. They're just scrounging around for excuses, projecting their own mediocrity onto her. How pitiful.

it was difficult for viktor to feel settled into his life. so many choices were stolen from the hargreeves children, and it was only in their home that viktor found control. while their siblings didn't visit often, there had always been a door ajar, just waiting to be pushed open. he had cleaned up the cobwebs and shooed out the dust, trying to manifest a new normal for himself.